Donald Trump Jr. Speaks Out on Corey Lewandowski’s ‘Bitter’ Ways

CLEVELAND — Donald J. Trump Jr., the eldest son of the Republican presidential nominee, accused the former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski of undermining his father’s White House bid, revealing that reporters told him the former aide was planting stories in an effort to undercut the staff member who has replaced him.

“You can’t claim to be an ally and then try to sabotage the guy that you’re upset that was brought in to work with you,” said Mr. Trump, adding, “I’m not going to allow nonsense to be perpetuated because someone’s looking to get on TV for a few minutes.”

Mr. Trump and his siblings, who are close advisers to their father, were instrumental in Mr. Lewandowski’s ouster. But they had remained publicly circumspect about the aide who, throughout the Republican primary process, was an ever-present figure at the elder Trump’s side.

But long-simmering tensions between Mr. Lewandowski and his successor, Paul Manafort, boiled over this week when Mr. Lewandowski said Tuesday on CNN, where he is now a paid contributor, that Mr. Manafort should “do the right thing and resign” if he was responsible for Melania Trump’s use of language in her Republican National Convention speech lifted from Michelle Obama’s 2008 address to Democrats. Those comments exacerbated a hard day for the Trump campaign, which offered shifting and far-fetched explanations for the plagiarism.

Mr. Lewandowski’s televised recommendation particularly infuriated the Trump children and prompted Donald Jr. to send a stern message to Mr. Lewandowski of the sort that is rarely heard in public during a presidential campaign, let alone a convention.

“Enough’s enough,” Mr. Trump said at a breakfast in Cleveland sponsored by The Wall Street Journal,” calling Mr. Lewandowski “bitter.”

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The first day of the Republican National Convention did not go as planned, and on the second night in Cleveland, staying on message proved difficult for the campaign and the speakers.CreditCreditDamon Winter/The New York Times

He said Mr. Lewandowski “did great things initially for the campaign,” but had become fed up after his criticism of Mr. Manafort and a stream of reports from journalists that Mr. Lewandowski was bad-mouthing the new campaign leadership.

“They call us and say, ‘Corey said this, the Trump family is really upset,’” he said, imitating the voice of a reporter.

Mr. Lewandowski did not directly respond to the claim that he was criticizing Mr. Manafort to reporters, writing in an email that he has “the utmost respect for the Trump family.”

“It has been a honor to work with each of them for the past year and a half,” said Mr. Lewandowski, who is bound by a nondisclosure agreement with Mr. Trump that limits what he can say publicly about the candidate and the campaign.

But the 38-year-old Mr. Trump’s pointed criticism illustrates just how unsteady his father’s campaign remains, even after a series of attempted resets and staff additions. The Trump son, noting Mr. Lewandowski had not worked in a senior position on a presidential campaign, said they installed Mr. Manafort because they “had to actually have people in there that have done this before.”